Download - Matthew Hale - Open Source at the Kings Fund
Using Koha @ The King’s Fund:Integrating library management
systems
Matthew Hale, Online Services Librarian, The King's [email protected]
Abstract
The King's Fund Information and Library Service went live with a new Library management system, Koha, in January 2010, migrating from its previous SirsiDynix Unicorn system, working with support company PTFS Europe. The fact that this is one of the first implementations of an open source Library management system in the UK has attracted a lot of interest from other libraries.
This presentation will describe the background to a move to a new system, the process by which Koha was chosen, aspects of the migration, some information on the system itself, system support and development, and a look to the future, highlighting in each of these areas particular elements specific to it being an open source product. The overall aim will be to place our migration to Koha against the backdrop of a broad philosophy and implementation of open source solutions across the Library service.
It will be demonstrated that in this context, rather than an isolated business decision, the choice to move to Koha was a natural and logical one.
Overview
The King’s FundThe King’s Fund Information and Library ServiceBackground for change, open sourceProducts developed: aggregated news; enquiry databaseThe existing Library Management SystemKohaPTFS EuropeMaking the decisionMigrationLooking forwardConclusion
The King’s Fund
Cavendish Square, central LondonCharitable statusIndependent health think-tankHealth improvementPolicy and media workLeadership coursesEvents venueLibrary
The King’s Fund Information and Library Service
Health and social care managementPublic library license, reference-only12 staff, some flexible working 93,000 bibliographic records (49,000 journal article records)20,000 subject authority records“Grey” literature informal and unpublished worksThe King’s Fund publications3 NHS Evidence Specialist Collections
Background for change, open source
Drive to innovate:– declining Library footfall, increasing isolation– Library move decision July 2006– physical relocation, 2/3 stock to storage– Chief Executive – external audience– Head of ILS Ray Phillips, April 2007
Online Services Team (Julia Florin - Information Specialist (Data Management), Meghan Jones - Assistant Electronic Services Librarian from May 2009)Proprietary website and intranetLimited resourcesRapid customised application and prototype developmentOpen source approach adoptedDesktop web server Abyss – sandbox MySQL, PHPkingsfundlibrary web space 2008 – applications, wiki, databases
Products developed: aggregated news
Sharing Library and IT links and newsGregarius (http://gregarius.net/) feed aggregator (Magpie RSS parser http://magpierss.sourceforge.net/)List of blogs and news feedsUnobtrusive Ajax Star Rater (http://masugadesign.com/the-lab/scripts/unobtrusive-ajax-star-rating-bar/)Split items, display with rating barStore rating with item recordPHP to generate html and RSS based on score and currency Inclusive and incrementalQuality improves through involvement
Products developed: aggregated news
Daily top health news items selected by Library team using aggregated news toolhttp://www.kingsfund.org.uk/applications/dynamic/rss_news.rm?id=20546
Products developed: enquiry database
Existing system:– Paper form based enquiry system– Results emailed then deleted
New database designed to:– reuse answers to questions, with a search facility– build knowledge base – support flexible working– efficiencies through automation of manual processes and statistic
generation– produce reusable output in various formats
Products developed: enquiry database
Requirements:– Subject-based for output, awareness– Web-based: easy access externally and cross-department– Multiple output formats, such as html, email, RSS– Configurable, potential for development
Open source platform:– enquiry database from scratch, MySQL– incorporating a Wiki (http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki) with
designated namespace to store freetext data– familiarity, inbuilt searching, formatting
PHP for database handling
Products developed: enquiry database
Enquiry desk front end with enquiry database, statistics and storage requests
Products developed: enquiry database
Tie enquiry record to wiki page:– append unique id from the new Enquiry record to a base URL and store
that value in the wiki_url field to maintain a permanent link to a wiki page.
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM enquiry where enquiry_date like '$today'");
$url="http://www.kingsfundlibrary.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=KB:";$array=mysql_fetch_assoc($result);$url .= $array['id'];mysql_query("UPDATE enquiry set wiki_url= '$url' where enquiry_date like
'$today'");
http://www.kingsfundlibrary.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=KB:163
Products developed: enquiry database
Wiki answer page for enquiry record (163)
The existing Library management system
1st UK customer for Sirsi in 1989No customisation, OPAC made public in 2006Limited functional requirementsDatabase as focus for developmentData extracted and manipulated – subject-based RSS feedsPipe-delimited output rather than reportsFunctionality outside of Library management system, extracting and reformatting data, for example into XML for integration into website:
The existing Library management system
Fields in dataset for export to website search. RDF using Dublin Core tags, and a boolean indicator to distinguish recommended items:– Control number for link to item record.– Title– Personal author– Corporate author– Subject– URL– Abstract– Reference– Publisher– Date– Format– Recommended title tag
The existing Library management system
Library results alongside site search results. http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/applications/site_search/?term=technology
The existing Library management system
Library results embedded in topic page on main website. http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/topics/personalisation/index.html#knowledge
Koha
1999 Horowhenua Library TrustFirst open source Library system, Jan 2000Katipo Communications LtdFree open source - GNU General Public Licensewww.koha-community.orgLinux, Apache, MySQL, PerlWeb-based – XHTML, CSS, JavascriptZebra search engine, Z39.50 protocolLibrary standards compliantIntegrated system
Koha
Complementary and Alternative Medicine Library and Information Service (CAMLIS) (http://www.cam.nhs.uk/) visit Jan 2008Installing a copy locally on UbuntuDocumentation, supportPerl dependencies – packagesWorking modelBreaking the barriers conference May 2009Viable option:– internal reception to open source model– maturity of Koha– PTFS Europe support company
Strategy paper – replacement system needs, Koha, open source
PTFS Europe
http://www.ptfs-europe.com/Former SirsiDynix staffArchivalWare digital library softwareSupporting Koha and Evergreen Software as a Service, upgrades and patchesDetailed knowledge of Unicorn productFlexible support, partnershipRelationship with community, mailing lists, IRC
Decision
Sirsi-Dynix merger 2005 and end of “special relationship”Development and enhancement processPTFS Europe:– familiar and trusted staff– knowledge of Unicorn system– speed and flexibility of implementation
Initial and ongoing costIntegration with ILS development strategy and productsTo avoid proprietary support and development tie-inOpen source and standards to avoid reliance on individuals
Migration
28th September 2009 demonstration and quote9th October approval given23rd October project initiation meeting3rd November system configuration meetingServer setup and initial data load5 half-day training sessions: system admin, OPAC, cataloguing, circulation, serials.Data feedbackSecond data loadLive system 5th January
Migration
Cancellation of SirsiDynix annual maintenanceInternal funding of project, opportunity more than formal processSerial control recordsOPAC customisation“Advanced features (beta)”Exposure of “local” cataloguing issuesMore data cleaningOpen process, documentation on wikiDowntime - noneSupport throughout
Migration
773 local field for recording journal article data:BMJ 2009; 339 (7717): 371-373 (15 August 2009) Single text string was split as part of migration to provide semantic structure
using a single regular expression which matched 43682 out of 48325 records:
[^0-9]*[0-9]\{4,\};[^:]*:[^(]*([^)]*)into constituent parts $t (title) $y (year) $v (volume) $n (number) $p
(pages) $d (date) Koha to MARC mapping sample: Koha Field Tag Subfield Libauthor 100 a Personal author title 245 a Title
Print option from cartMARC perl modules, Record.pm Batch.pmperl –CS for UTF-8 compatibility
Migration
Main Koha site - http://koha-community.org/General mail list http://lists.katipo.co.nz/public/koha/Live OPAC demo http://catalog.bywatersolutions.com/Live staff client demo http://intranet.bywatersolutions.com/ (Username is bywater password is bywater)Support companies - http://koha-community.org/support/paid-support/LIS-KOHA http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/LIS-KOHA.htmlDownload - http://koha-community.org/download-koha/
Looking forward
Vibrant and growing system, freedomPTFS support and developmentSoftware releases and roadmapsMailing listsIRCCommunity support embracing bothAll working on one system, documentation, code, reports (paste MySQL)
Looking forward
Still exploringLean processesWeb2 functionality in OPACEmbed aspects of enquiry databaseThesaurus managerUK user base
Conclusion
New system in 1989: – hardware excluding terminals £21,000– Unicorn software £35,750– BRS / Search £9,750– 13-month intensive process
Cost and speed in 2010 fractions of thatOpportunity rather than planned process in context of other developmentsChanged attitude to open source internallyThe 3 questions we’re usually asked:– can Koha do…?– how much did it cost?– what’s the catch?